Cyber theft of trade secrets by China is a threat to U.S. national security, U.S. Ambassador to China Max Baucus said on Wednesday in the first major public address of his tenure, warning that Washington would continue to apply pressure to Beijing.

“We wouldn't sit idly by while a crime was being committed in the real world. So why should we when it happens in cyber space?" he said. "We will continue to use diplomatic and legal means to make it clear that this type of behavior must stop."

Baucus’s remarks were nothing new; he was simply repeating the U.S. government’s groundless accusations against China from last month.

Although China has sternly refuted the U.S. accusations on Baucus’ charges of cyber theft, China has to affirm its position again: China is a staunch defender of network security. China has never engaged in cyber theft of trade secrets. Accusations made by the U.S. against China are fabricated, with ulterior motives.

The United States has repeatedly criticized other countries while portraying itself as a victim, which forces people to think of the Daily Telegraph’s comments: With the public now aware of the creation of a massive, secret U.S.-backed Internet surveillance program revealed by Edward Joseph Snowden, the U.S. has ceded the moral high ground on the issue.

That the United States is "the king of hackers", has been acknowledged for some time. The more the U.S.A. tries to gloss over the fact, the more its moral shortcomings are exposed. "Prism" showed the ugly side of the USA to the world.

·  The NSA keeps track of most of the world’s cell phones, collecting nearly five billion records every day - Washington Post, December 5, 2013

·  It may have been monitoring the cell phone conversations of Chancellor Angela Merkel for as much as 10 years - Reuters, October 23, 2013

·  The NSA paid millions to Google, Yahoo, Facebook and other companies to fund their help in surveillance - Washington Post, October 30, 2013

·  The NSA sweeps up private information from phone apps - The Guardian, January 27, 2014

·  The NSA launched a large-scale network attack against China - People’s Daily Online, May 27, 2014

For many years the United States, with its leadership in technology, promoted Internet freedom on one hand, trying to build an image of a supporter of cyber information freedom, while on the other hand it continually tried to improve its capacity for cyber attacks against other countries.

Since the White House released its "Cyberspace International Strategy" in 2011, Washington has made it clear that its plan is to consolidate its dominant position, and strive to establish U.S. hegemony in cyberspace.

In a top secret presidential directive signed in mid-October 2012, U.S．President Obama ordered his senior national security and intelligence officials to draw up a list of potential overseas targets for US cyber-attacks - The Guardian 7 June 2013

The 18-page Presidential Policy Directive 20, issued in October last year but never published, states that what it calls Offensive Cyber Effects Operations (OCEO) "can offer unique and unconventional capabilities to advance US national objectives around the world with little or no warning to the adversary or target and with potential effects ranging from subtle to severely damaging".

The United States continues to deliberately undermine the image of other countries. Even so, Obama says the U.S. will lead the world for the next 100 years. “America must always lead on the world stage," Obama declared. "If we don’t, no one else will.” But the history of international relations has previously demonstrated that a just cause enjoys abundant support, while an unjust cause finds little. Morality will play a decisive role.

At the moment, there is no code of conduct in cyberspace. Countries all around the world should respect each other and cooperate on the basis of equality and mutual benefits, and take joint responsibility for maintaining cyber security. The international community urgently needs to develop a generally accepted code of conduct, upholding multilateralism, democracy and the principle of transparency so as to build a peaceful, secure and open environment for information cooperation.

The article is edited and translated from Chinese version of 《“世界领袖”不是“黑”出来的》，published on People’s Daily on Jun 27, 2014.